Chapter Qaf- Part 7

Chapter Qaf, part 7

50:17 “Whenever the two demands [of his inner self] come face to face, contending from the right and from the left. [literally: when the two receivers receive, seated on the right and on the left.]”

We are in between two competing elements within ourselves, opposite to each other.  What is the point of assessing right from wrong?  Why are we put in this troublesome situation?!  

I am free to choose one option/idea over the other.  I have consciousness, feelings, and intellect.  When an idea comes to me, an opposite idea automatically comes with it.  The Quran confirms what is whispered to the left side is the opposite of the right side.  However, depending on my intention (prejudice, biases, ego-centric concerns), the decisions get taken.

Example: I do not like a person, and someone mentions that this person has a good character.  However, I completely decided that I will say everything negative about this person.  Although this person has some good qualities, my intention is to reject everything good about this person, and I will invent false reasoning to justify that.  I may be right in my decisions, but no one on Earth may be fully corrupt.  Even Pharaoh, the worst figurative person mentioned in the scriptures, took well care of Moses as a child.  Doesn’t that display a good character? 

We need to be careful about our biases.  Example: Jane is a person living in a cosmopolitan city and does not want to stand out from the crowd.  As a result, Jane decides to lose her identity in the melting pot, and like the masses, does not want to have an identity.  People do not want to be outcast in society.  Example: Town X thinks that certain followers of a group are called, let us say “Muslims”.  If religious requirements necessitate that I must do something which declares that I am a Muslim, then I start re-interpreting these religious requirements my own way where I do not want to identify as a Muslim.

• My bias prevents me from being honest within myself.   

What does believe in God mean?  If I believe in God, what will happen? The very existence of this universe makes us think about the cause of Existence of everything.  However, I do not want to submit to a religion and follow a religion, and I make excuses that these religious people are backward.  Is following a religion real freedom?

From the right, my spirit’s reminders come, are you sure that you are existing by yourself, or do you have an Owner?  I must decide if I do not have any biased attitude, by accepting that I am created by a Wise Absolute Creator, I belong to Him.  The seasons are provided by Him.  He provided my mother and father with full of Compassion and concern.  He provided my siblings with full of love and care for me.  Who created them with these feelings?  Can it be the result of matter?  My intelligence cannot be coming from matter.

We are given the opportunity to accept the reality, the consequence is with you, you will either enjoy it, benefit from it, or deprive yourself from it.

Comment:  Doubts are needed for deliberation, which is necessary for progress.

Exactly, can we say that human beings develop by themselves?  Can I say that our spiritual growth is encoded in our DNA?  No.  As a young man, when I look at the chart of the DNA structure, I may say that it is happening by itself.  However, I later question:  Can it really happen by itself?  

We should not be prejudiced in denial or belief.  You fortify your conclusion when you deliberate on doubts.  Is it a whispering from the left side?

A common Philosophical debate:  What element can guarantee that the sun will rise tomorrow?  Can I make sure by myself that the sun will rise tomorrow?  Who arranges this setup?  Example: The wind or earthquake will crash the house.  Does wind or earthquake have consciousness?  No.  The wind/earthquake is done by someone else’s consciousness.  

• Doubts are the foundations of our progress to strengthen our conclusions.

We are in between two options that are not equal.  Just like a house built on solid mountain rock is not equal to a house built on the shore of sand.  Any reasonable evidence that comes can easily be confirmed by rejecting the opposite idea.  In other words, the house of satanic whispering (built on a weak foundation i.e. no foundation just like a house on sand) will collapse.  You must have reasoning and conclusion based on evidence called the fact of the universe.  

Everything here works in harmony, just like employees of a company.  People have different personalities and reasoning power, but we benefit from each other as human friends.  A conscious designer has designed us purposefully and perfectly.  Even illness and pain are created within a perfect order.  The left whispering is to give me the opportunity of checking  what is right and wrong.  I need to establish my conclusion in a solid way with evidence.  

How can I arrange my life here and know what to do in my practical living conditions?  

I must see whether any idea that is presented to me is appropriate to my living conditions.  The Quran emphatically mentions “I gave you the feelings of eternal existence and I will take you out of here to satisfy these feelings.  You cannot find eternal happiness in this world, but you can only find it with Me.  There is no limit to My wisdom or anything to prevent Me from doing something for I am the Lord of creation.”  The universe witnesses that this is the Speech of the One who creates me, gives me guidance, and I must follow Him.  To establish the confidence in the truthfulness of the Quran, I have to check if I can examine the concepts here.  

• “In order to understand what I say you have to look at my actions in creation”.

50:18 “he does not utter a single word without an ever-present watcher.”

What is always with us?  That is, whatever I do, It looks.  In other words, whatever I do is created by God and I must find out which part of me functions in this way where I know that things are being created.  My consciousness: “Hey (insert your name), how do you explain this wonderful creation?”  

My attitude all the time is that I want to entertain right now, and I say to myself, what is there to lose?  There is nothing wrong with that attitude, as long as you keep the remembrance that: “I am a guest of the Host of the universe”, rather than “I want to chill with friends, and I do not want someone over me”.  My human consciousness in my spirit reminds me that “Hey, (insert your name) I know what you are doing, and you are deviating from the truth”.  Your Creator is recording whatever you are doing.  

• My spirit is the representative of my Creator within myself.

Your consciousness continuously reminds you that you are created by a One who knows you.  The quality of imagination is also created.  The Creator of your imagination must know what is passing by your mind.  You are responsible for your decisions.  Everything from the left whispers to you, which kind of God is it, a Loving One?  This thought came to your mind, and you must decide if this whispering is correct.  Is my Creator enjoying Himself by torturing me and not fulfilling my human expectations?  

Why did He give me the sense of disliking torture?  I should not harm anyone.  These senses are given to me by my Creator.  He has created something that I define as “torture” and I dislike, for example.  “Your Creator is giving you the opportunity to realize who you are and who your owner is.” A reminder, that is how you make your conclusions stronger and sounder.  Your Creator is giving you the opportunity to remember who you are. 

• If everything goes right, I say that all is good, and I do not feel grateful.  

• When something unpleasant happens, I start complaining, who is giving this to me?  The one who has been giving you health is now giving you illness? Think about it, there must be wisdom in it.

50:19 “And the agony of death comes with the truth.  That is what you were trying to escape.”

Death is out there.  Death is the Creator of everything (including all thoughts and feelings), who am I and who my Creator is?  How am I reminded of this reality?  Every second I am reminded of death, by getting old and experiencing weakness.  I know that my parents are getting older, people around me, my spouse, friends, and siblings all are subject to constant motion.  

Death is ever present with me, and I am experiencing death at every moment as I grow.  I do not grow by myself; my Creator gives me a new creation.  In the remembrance of death, I feel the signs of the footsteps of death approaching.  Every moment, it comes.  If I do not take notice of this reality of existence, and take the opportunity right now to realize and acknowledge that I cannot sustain my existence and protect my property (I know I am not the real owner of me), then will everything be taken away from me?  

Who is the real owner of all these things that I am concerned with?  

I must accept it from now on, and not wait until the last moment.  My Creator says: “I am speaking to living human beings, not dead.  I will keep reminding you of death, your reality by aging you, slowly making you approach your own destruction, and you cannot stop aging, that is how I am present with you and doing this as a result of my Mercy with you, to remind you of your reality.  Do not listen to the whisperings of the wrongdoers from the left and be arrogant.”  

• “Use the feelings, consciousness and understand what your reality is and live in this world accordingly. That is what is expected of you”.

Death is the final criteria for everyone.  Whether you accept it now or later, you cannot escape it at the end.

50:20 “And the trumpet is blown: This is the Promised Day.”

From the beginning, when you realize your consciousness, It is with you.  The sound of the trumpet comes from far, but It is with you, and you hear it, as day goes by, you become closer to the sound of the trumpet.

We need to understand the reality of death because I am aging.  This world is a temporary abode reminding me that you get to educate yourself and graduate from this kind of existence by listening to your human feelings, spirit, consciousness and heart.